There have been several books written about low-carbohydrate diets in the past decade or two. These include such luminaries as Protein Power by Mary Dan and Michael Eades; Enter the Zone by Barry Sears; Eat Right 4 Your Type by Peter D’Adamo; South Beach Diet by Arthur Agaston; The New Atkins for a New You by Eric Westeman; The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain. The Paleo Diet has been one of the more recent and very popular low-carb books, and I’m going to explain some of the major reason why these low-carb diet books are not going to work, and how they are unhealthy for people. 1. Very little peer-reviewed research published to support these types of diets 2. Imprecise data from the Paleolithic times; indirect procedures must be used to reconstruct the traditional diet of pre-agricultural humans. 3. The view of the authors of these books has been challenged on several grounds by other eminent scientists and researchers, such as assuming that contemporary hunter-gatherers are representative of historical hunter-gatherers. 4. There is no evidence that genetic adaptations favoring the consumption of animal-based foods could have occurred to convert early humans into true carnivores. 5. Humans cannot synthesize vitamin C, which is only made in plants. Other mammals that require vitamin C are all plant eaters, so why would humans be any different? 6. For most of the early human history, people did not have the speed or strength [or methods] to catch and slaughter large animals for food, making the possibility of diets high in animal protein rather slim. 7. Human anatomy compares well with that of our nearest non-human primate relatives, like chimpanzees, who have always relied on a primarily plant-based diet. Humans and chimpanzees share a similar intestinal anatomy, and the diets of the non-human primates consist of only 4 to 6 percent animal-based food, mostly from termites and ants. 8. The highly questionable nature of animal versus plant food dietary estimates taken from archaeological studies, due to the fact that plant foods leave little to no trace in fossilized remains is suspect. Additionally, we don’t know much about the lifespans of prehistoric humans; if they didn’t live long enough to develop food-related diseases, then fossil remains can’t be used as evidence about long-term health consequences of a particular diet. 9. There are no peer-reviewed studies showing an association of lower rates of diet-related diseases and low-carb/Paleo diets. 10. A whole-foods plant-based diet has been repeatedly shown to provide substantial health-related benefits that are fairly rapid and relatively free of side effects. There is a substantial body of evidence to support a vegetarian, vegan and even raw foods diet as being much healthier for most humans, than a low-carb or “Paleo” diet has shown. Stick with a roughly 80% carbohydrate, 10% protein and 10% [or less] fat and most people will do much better in maintaining their health. You can read more about the contrasts of a whole-foods, plant-based diet to low-carbohydrate, high protein/high fat diets in the following books:The Low-Carb Fraud by Campbell and JacobsonThe China Study by Campbell and CampbellDr. Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease by Dean OrnishPrevent and Reverse Heart Disease by C.J. EsselstynThe Starch Solution by John McDougall and Mary McDougall21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart: Boost Metabolism, Lower Cholesterol, and Dramatically Improve Your Health by Neal BarnardEat to Live: The Revolutionary Formula for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss by Joel FurhmanThe 80/10/10 Diet: Balancing Your Health, Your Weight, and Your Life, One Luscious Bite at a Time by Dr. Douglas N. Graham

1. There are now lots of well run, peer reviewed and published RCT studies completed. (Observational studies are junk science, and should only be used to find clues to run actual Random Control Trials...it was observational studies that led to the low fat fad that’s killing us.) Just do a Google search. And every one of them has shown that low carb is healthy and effective. Even a famous one called the A to Z diet run by a 20 year vegetarian. There is a new organization that is actually doing the best human trials ever done. The Nutrition Science Initiative. The question of what we should eat for best health should no longer be confusing, at least in a few years when some of their studies wrap up. Even Dean Ornish will be hard pressed to come up with any arguments.

2. Ok, data isn’t perfect yet.

3. On the contrary, some of the best physicians and scientists are getting on board. Even Time magazine just printed a retraction of it’s 1980’s claims that low fat was healthiest.

4. Yes there is, even simply the length of our intestines. But that’s a grey area so not even worth thinking about. It’s not really about what may or may not have happened a million years ago as much as it’s about what’s healthy for humans now, in this culture. And why are you calling the paleo diet “true carnivore”? Paleo eats a LOT of veggies.

5. Um...Eskimos? However, if you look up Vitamin C sources, there are quite a few animal sources, such as liver and whale skin. Organ meats are favored by all meat eating species and always eaten first.

6. Catching food? Simple and virtually no brains needed, dig a pit and check once a day. Besides that, there are many more sources of animal foods than large game. Birds, eggs, bugs, rodents, fish, etc., etc. Even scavenging can be very effective.

7. We aren’t built like chimpanzees, and if you’re like me, you’d rather look like a cheetah than a chimp or gorilla.

8. You’re right, not a lot of evidence for anything. Pretty much nothing in the wild lives to an old age, there are parasites, accidents, disease, starvation and exposure. All of those take their toll.

9. Seriously? Do a Google search of Ketogenic study then add these terms in one by one and start reading – cancer, obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, etc. BTW ketogenic is ultimate low carb and high fat....almost entirely animal based. There is good science published, however not nearly enough...yet. We were side tracked by the low fat fad and no one researched the opposite. It’s now taken epidemics of disease and obesity to start wondering wth?

10. A whole foods plant based diet definitely comes ahead when pitted against the Standard American Diet (SAD) of sugar and grains, however that’s the only time. Every time it’s run against a low carb diet it loses. Again, look it up, and not opinion pieces or news items, read the actual studies.

I’m not paleo, I use the ketogenic diet. However, for a young and healthy person there is every reason to believe that paleo is the best nutrition. However most people in this country aren’t young and healthy and simply going paleo isn’t enough for them. They (and myself) are so metabolically deranged that it takes more extreme efforts to heal and achieve a healthy weight. That’s where the very low carb or ketogenic diet fits in.

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I'm an idealist vegan, doing my part to make this world a better place, one grain of sand at a time!